Slow them down, probably. Stop them, no. Short of a full-scale invasion and occupation of a nation three times larger than neighboring Iraq in population and five times larger in land area, that can't be done. Global disapproval didn't stop North Korea, Pakistan, nor, for that matter, Israel.

Exponentially dumb because it could set the entire Middle East aflame.

You'd think the Israelis, of all people, would recognize that threatening a people with death and destruction hardens their resolve. Yet the New York Times reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "told visitors that he believes the Tehran government to be deeply unpopular, indeed despised, and that a careful attack on its nuclear facilities might even be welcomed by Iranian citizens."

Yes, and Dick Cheney predicted that U.S. forces invading Iraq would be greeted with candy and flowers. "Most analysts [in Jerusalem] and abroad," the Times noted cautiously "take a different view." Indeed, historical examples of civilian populations cheering on aerial bombardments are rare, if not non-existent. Despite his and Cheney's obvious affinities, one would expect Netanyahu to be made of saner stuff.

Assuming that the Israeli Prime Minister's motives for threatening a unilateral Israeli strike against Iranian nuclear facilities are as reported. I suspect they are not. To put it bluntly, it's not so much the regime in Tehran that Netanyahu's keen to destabilize as the one in Washington. The question now is how far he's willing to take it.

Despite media chatter about "red lines" being crossed, it's hard to point to anything the Iranians have done to provoke the current crisis. They've been trash-talking since 1979. Otherwise, no Iranian armies are massing. With its navy badly outgunned in the Persian Gulf, and a vestigial air force scarcely capable of defending against Israeli bombers, Iran sits surrounded by U.S. bases in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan — well, everywhere.

Iran's last military action of any consequence was its catastrophic 1980s war with Saddam Hussein's Iraq, during which it suffered more than a million dead. The Persians haven't actually invaded anybody for more than 300 years. The Shiite regime's expanded regional influence came about as an unintended consequence of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

For what it's worth, the Ayatollahs deny any intention of attacking the "Zionist Entity"—despite frequently wishing that it would vanish from the earth. Even Iranian clients Hezbollah and Hamas have been mostly quiet. With Iran's economy faltering under economic sanctions engineered by the Obama administration, and much of its population seething with resentment amid an acrimonious feud between President Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Khameni, the Tehran regime's got all it can do to survive, much less to start a suicidal conflict with Israel — not to mention the United States.

But when articles invoking the Holocaust and urging "creative destruction" in Iran appear on the same day (Feb 7) in the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Newsweek and Bloomberg News, a skeptical observer might be forgiven for suspecting a well-coordinated propaganda campaign.

Writing in Beirut-based Al-Akhbar, American journalist Max Blumenthal dates its inception to a January 3 article in Israel Hayom revealing that Israel's National Security Council — basically Netanyahu's closest political allies — had concluded that "US President Barack Obama is 'naïve'" and fails to understand Israel's precarious position. Deemed a Likud Party organ, the newspaper is owned by multi-billionaire Las Vegas casino tycoon Sheldon Adelson, who bankrolls Netanyahu and serves as Newt Gingrich's Sugar Daddy too.

Netanyahu appears to see an Obama second term as an impediment to further Israeli expansion into the West Bank — or "Judea" and "Samaria," as Likudniks style it — and has cast his lot with the Republican right. He's made public appearances with notables like Glenn Beck and "End Times" evangelist John Hagee. Adelson himself has pledged his vast resources to Obama's defeat.

In his State of the Union speech, President Obama reiterated his determination to prevent Iran's getting nuclear weapons. He said he was "taking no options off the table." But he also expressed hope that international sanctions could lead to a peaceful resolution.

On cue, Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen called this "startlingly naïve." Only a fool or a Frenchman, the same pundit once opined, could doubt the existence of Saddam Hussein's WMDs. Bombs away!

Speaking of Benjamin Netanyahu, Barack Obama

It would be a mistake if liberals use these positive macro-level economic facts to avoid reckoning with the reality of their failure to address stagnation and decline for large sections of the population. /more/

President Obama cuts loose on Donald Trump's "whining" about a rigged election and his "flattery" of Vladimir Putin. /more/

A Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate says President Obama needs to visit flood-ravaged Louisiana. He's right, even if it isn't likely to produce much for him or the president's party politically. /more/

President Barack Obama said today what many Americans are thinking: Donald Trump is "unfit to serve" as president. /more/

I had the good fortune to see Michelle Obama fairly early in her public life, on the Iowa caucus campaign trail in late 2007. Obama's speech last night at the DNC simultaneously showed how much has changed in those 8-plus years, and how little has. /more/

Polling shows broad support for hearings on President Obama's Supreme Court nominee. It seems unlikely to move opponents like the U.S. senators from Arkansas. /more/

Gallup polling shows s majority of Americans believe the Senate should confirm President Obama's nomination of Merrick Garland to the U.S. Supreme Court. Not that the people nor a strong rebuke of the political process by Chief Justice John Roberts will move Arkansas's senators to approve an Obama nomination. /more/

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